Process of and apparatus for dispelling fog and mist



E. C. READER Feb. 24, 1931.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISPELLING FOG AND MIST Filed April 18, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

4'. IIIIIIIIIIIIHIHIHII Feb. 24 1931. Q READER 1,793,719

PROCESS QF AND APPARATUS FOR DISPELLING FOG AND MIST Filed April 1a, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet. 2

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Feb. 24, 1931. E. c. READER PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DISPELLING FOG ANDMIST Filed April 18, -l928 3 Sheets-Sheet. 3

Patented Feb. 24, 1931 EDWARD c. READER, or 01.1), onto 1: or am) arrnnn'rns m DISPELLING see an!) mar- Application fled April 18, 1928. Serial No. 271,078.

This invention relates to a process of and apparatus for dispelling fog and mist.

Itis the general urpose and object of the invention to provi e a process and apparatus whereby fog or mist may be dispelled in a simple, effective, and economical manner.

As is well known, the landing of airplanes,

the mooring of airships, and. the movement and docking of vessels are frequently delayed at by fogor hea mist. The process and apparatus descri ed herein are particularly valuable in overcoming the difliculties referred to, although other uses and advantages of the invention will be apparent.

In carrying out my invention, I dispel the fog or mist by directing thereinto a forceful and voluminous blast of heated air, referably min led with products of com ustion from the burner or other means whereby the so air is heated. In the drawings, I have shown one embodiment of -an apparatus that is adapted for the dispelling of fogs and mist and which is particularly adapted for use at docks or landing fields. -In the said drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the sa1d apparatus; Fig. 2 a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the central portion of the air-heat I ing portion of the said apparatus; and Fig. 4 a horizontal sectional view through such airheating portion of the said apparatus, certain parts being shown in elevation.

Describing the various parts by reference characters, 1 represents a truck provided with wheels 2 by which my apparatus may be transported from place to place. The truck supports the base 3 of a turntable, the upper portion 4 of saidturntable being supported rom said base by anti friction balls 5. The up er portion of the turntable is provided wit a large gear 6 whereby it may be rotated by means of a pinion 7 driven from an electric motor 8 through a shaft 9 and suitable gearing (not shown) located in a box 10. v

w The rotatable member 4 of the turntable is provided with an upright 11 to which'the air-heating portion of the apparatus is pivoted by means of a. horizontal pivot pin 12 and depending lugs 13, the said lugs depending from the base or floor 14 of such portion. For the purpose ofadjusting the base or floor 14 about the pivotal axis 12, two vertical screws 15 are provided each being threaded into a sleeve 16, the said sleeves being carried by opposite sides of the base or floor 14. The lower ends of the screws are mounted in journal boxes 17 each carried at the end of a bracket 18 projecting from the rotary member 4 of the turntable. The lower endof each screw 15 is provided with a worm co gear 19, the said worm gears being driven by means of worms 21 on a transverse shaft 20, the shaft being mounted in forked journals 23, projectin rearwardly from the journal boxes 17, an the said forks receiving the worms 21 therebetween. V I

Mounted on the floor 14 is the'combined air-heating and combustion chamber 24, the said combustion chamber comprising an outer casing having metallic sides 25 and a metallic bottom 26, the casing being lined with suitable refractory insulating material, indicated at 27. Extendin longitudinally through the chamber 24 and of is the air heating conduit 28, the rear end of the conduit communicating with a suit able air-forcing means, the means shown herein being a centrifugal blower 29. The conduit is provided with a sliding gate valve the stem of which is indicated M and the handle of which at 31. The front or delivery end of thepipe 28 projects-throughthe front wall of the combustion chamber and into a tube 32 carried by said wall and from which it is spaced, the delivery end of the pipe 28 terminating in a frusto-conical nozzle, as shown at 28, and the tube 32 extending a considerable distance beyond such nozzle. Thetube 32 is shown as supported from the front wall of the combustion-and-heating chamber 90' and from thefloor 14 by a bracket 33.

For the purpose of heatin the air to be 4 conducted through the conduit 28, a pair of burners of the injector type are provided, the. nozzles of the said burners being indicated 95 at 34 and being arranged to discharge through 3 forwardly flaring openings 35 provided in the rearwall of the c amber 24. The nozzles 34 are at the. ends of a transverse pipe 36 which is connected by a pipe 37 with the con- 10 near the upper portion there- 1 roundin m baifies 41 projecting upwardly from the bottom thereof and arranged in front of the openings respectively.

With the parts constructed and arranged l as described, the operation will be as follows: [5 the blower 29 Will be operated in any convenient manner, as by an electric motor 42, the gate valve bein closed. This will result in forcing air un er pressure through the pipe 37 to the'burner nozzles. The valves 40 having been opened, a mixture of air with oil will be delivered from the nozzles through the openings 35 and into the chamber 24, where the mixture will be i nited and burned in the usual manner. To Facilitate complete :5 combustion, it is preferred to provide additional openings 43 for air below the openings 35. The baffles 41 serve to break up any oil in liquid form that may be delivered through the nozzles and to mix the oil and the vapors 0 thereof with the air, thereby ensuring proper combustion of the mixture within the chamber.

When the conduit 28 shall have been heated to a sufficient extent, the gate valve will be 5 opened and air will be forced therethrough,

which air will be heated by the flames and products of combustion within the chamber 24, the delivery end of the conduit 28 being heated by the products of combustion surthe same within the tube 32. By contracting the delivery end of the conduit 28 as shown at 28", the air will be delivered at arelatively high velocity, and the air so delivered will be mingled with the products a of combustion from the chamber 24 and this mixture projected into the fog or mist. The chamber 24 and tube 32 constitute a conduit whereby the conduit 28 is subjected throughout its length to the heat developed by the I combustion of the mixture delivered into the chamber from the burner nozzles.

In actual practice, an apparatus of the character shown herein has proved markedly efiicient in dispelling fog and mist. In such operation, air has been delivered at a temperature of from 1000 to 2000 F. and at the rate of about 24,000 cubic feet per minute. This has resulted in clearing up or dispelling fog quickly. The apparatus is comparatively cheap of manufacture and production and can be installed upon vessels or u on various places, such as landing fields and ocks, Where it is necessary to provide a cleared s ace for the landing of airplanes, airships an vessels. By virtue of mounting the apparatus upon a vof the fields or docks; and it may means truck, it can be transported to various parts be readily pointed in any desired direction y means of the turntable and the screws 15.

By suitable modification, my invention may be applied to airplanes, in which case the exhaust from the motors will be used for heating the air, the exhaust being delivered into a downwardly and forwardly projecting pipe which in turn encloses a smaller pipe for compressed air. By providing a suitable metallic hose which can be coupled to the delivery end of the pipes receiving the exhaust gases, the

mixture of gases and compressed air may be directed upon the wings or ropellers of the planes to remove ice there ro Furthermore, in place of using a blower 29, I may use a compressor and equip the apparatus shown herein as well as vessels and airplanes with such compressors, driving the compressors from the propeller shafts of such planes. Where compressors are employed, the air may be delivered at a pressure of as high as 100 pounds per square inch while, in the case of blowers, the pressure will be materially lower, it being essential to the realization of my process that a forceful blast of heated air (or other gaseous fluid) be directed into the fog or mist.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The process of dispelling fog or mist which consists in heating a1r 'in transit through an extended conduit by subjecting the said conduit to the action of a burning combustible mixture and projecting a forceful voluminous blast of the air thus heated into the fog or mist, together with products of combustion resulting from the burning of said mixture.

2. The process of dispelling fog or mist which consists in forcing air through an extended conduit, heating the air in transit through said conduit by a burning combustible mixture, discharging a forceful voluminous blast of the air thus heated into the f0 or mist, and utilizing'the air so discharged from the conduit to conduct and deliver products of combustion from such burning mixture into the fog or mist.

3. An apparatus of the character described comprising a chamber, a conduit for air extending through said chamber and having its delivery end projecting therebeyond a tube projecting forward from said chamber and surrounding and spaced from and extending beyond the delivery end of the said air conduit, means for forcing air under pressure through the said conduit, and fluid fuel burners arranged to deliver a combustible mixture into the said chamber below the said air conduit.

4:. Anapparatus of the character described delivery and projecting therebeyond and provided with a nozzle, a tube projectin forward from said chamber and surroun ing and spaced from and extending beyond the delivery end of the said air conduit, means for forcing air under pressure through the said conduit, and fluid fuel burners arranged to deliver a combustible mixture into the said combustion chamber below the said air conduit.

5. An apparatus of the character described comprising achamber, a conduit for air extending through the said chamber and having its front or delivery end extending. through and beyond the front of the said chamber, a tube carried by the front of the said chamber and surrounding and spaced from the front portion of the conduit and extending therebeyond, the rear wall of the chamber being provided with one or more burner openings therein below the air conduit, a fluid fuel burner for each such openin and means for forcing air under pressure t rough the said conduit.

6. An apparatus of the character described comprising a combustion chamber, a conduit for air extendin through the said combustion chamber and having its front or delive end extending through and beyond the rent of the said combustion chamber, a tube-projecting from the front of the combustion chamber and surrounding and spaced from the front portion of the said conduit and extending therebeyond, the rear wall of the combustion chamber being provided with one or more burner openings therein below the air conduit, a fluid fuel burner for each such opening, a baffle in said combustion chamber in front of each such burner openings and located below the air conduit, and means for forcing air under pressure through the said conduit.

7. n apparatus of the character described comprising a conduit forair, a conduit for products of combustion surrounding and spaced from and extending beyond the first conduit, means for forcing air under pressure through the first conduit, and means for delivering hot products of combustion into the second conduit.

8. The process of dispelling fog or mist which consists in heatin air in transit through an extended non nit by subjecting the outside of said conduit to the action of a burning combustible mixture and projecting a forceful voluminous blast of the air thus heated into the fog or mist,

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

EDWARD C. READER. 

